The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-06-12
tormenting him about his religion. trying


scoff at the Christian religion; she can hardly |
find a quiet place in which 10 say her prayers /
DID she find it smooth sailing when she tried /
20 follow Jesus Christi Oh, no! All who |
would live the life OF the Christian religion /
must suffer persecution. II you do not End |
II in one way you will get il in another way
The question was asked: who are those |
nearest the thronefT and the answer came |
back: These are they who came up out OF |
great trihuiation;- great failing. As the |
original has IL great failing, great pounding, |
-and had their robes washed and made white |
III the blood Of the lamb" oh, do not be /
disheartencd. Oh child of God! take cour-
age. You are in glorious eompanionship.
God will SIC you through all these trials, and
he viii deliver you.
Ny subject also impresses me with the fact
that good people sometimes get very much
frightened
In the tones OF these disciples as they
rushed into the back part of the boat, dnd
they are frightened almost To death. They
say: Muster, carest thou not that per
ishf' They had no reason TO be frightened.
for Christ was in the boat l suppose if We
had been there we would have been just as
much afr.isEtened. Perhaps more.
In all ages very good people get very much
affrishteIIed IL is often 50 in our day, and
men say: Way, look ct the bad lectures;
look at the spiritunlistic societies; look at the
various errors going over the church of God;
are going 10 founder; the church is going
To perish; she is going down" Oh, how
many good people are affrightened by in
iquity il our day, ami think the church Of
Jesus Christ IS going TO be overthrown, and
are just as much affrightened as were the dis
ciples Of my text Don't worry, don't fret.
a. though iuiIuity were going to triumph
over Righteousness.
a Hon sues !nto a cavern to sleep. He lies
down, with his shaggy name covering the
paws. Meanwhile the spiders spin a web
across the mouth of the cavern, and say:
I've have captured him" Gossamer thread
after gOssaner thread is spun until the whole
front Of the cavern is covered with the
spiders web, and the spiders say: THE lion
Is done; the lion Is fast" After awhile the
lion has got through sleeping; he rouses him
self, he shakes his NAME he walks out into
the sunlight; he does not even know the
spiders web is spun, aud with his voice he
shakes the mountain.
So men come spinning their sophistries and
skepticisms about Jesus Christ: he seems to
be sleeping. They say: we have captured
the Lord; he will never come forth again
upon the nation, Christ is captured forever
His religion will never make any conquest
among men" But after a while the Lion of
the tribe of Judah will rouse himself and
come forth TO shake nightly the nations
Whats a spiders web to the aroused lion,
/ Give truth and error a fair grappie, and
/ truth viii come of victor.
But there are great many good people
/ who get aiTrightened in other respects; they
/ are aTrightened in our day about revivals
/ They say: oh. this is a strong religious gale;
We are afrail the church of God is going to
be upset, aud there are going to be a great
many people brought into the church that are
/ going to he Of no use to it," and they are
affrightened whenever they see a revival
taking hold of the churches.
As though a ship captain with 3 600 bushels
I of wheat for "a cargo would say, some day.
coming upon deck: Throw overheard all
/ cargo and the sailors would say: "Why, cap
tain, what do you mean! Throw over all the
/ cargo!r oh says the captain. 1--WE have a
! peck Of chat that has got into this 5000
I bushels Of wheat, and the only way 10 get rid
/ of the chaff Is To throw all the wheat over
( board Now, that is "A great deal wiser than
I the talk of a great many Christians who want
To throw overheard all the thousands and
tens Of thousands of souls who are the sub
jccts of reyivals. Throw all overheard be-
cause they ara brought into the kingdom OF
God through great revivals; because there is
"a peck OF chatf, quart of chaff a pint of
/ chaff, | say let them stay until the last day
The Lord viii divide the chaff from the wheat
Do not he afraid of a great revival.
Oh, that these gales from heaven might
sweep through all our churches! Oh, for such
days a. Richard Baxter saw in England and
Robert McCheyne saw in Dundee! oh, for
such DAYS as Jonathan Edwards saw in
! Northampton. have often heard my father
tell Of The fact that in the early part OF this
| century revival broke out at Somerville,
/ y. j., and some people were very much agi-
tated about It. They said: "Oh, you are
going TO bring too many people into the
church at once;" and they sent down TO New
Brunswick, to get John Livingston to stop the
revival
Well, there was no better soul in all the
world than John Livingston. He went and
looked at the revival: they wanted him TO
/ stop it. He stood in the pulpit on the Sab
bath and looked over the solemn auditory and
LIE said: This, brethren, is in reality the
work of God; beware how you try to stop it, "
Aud he was an old man, leaning heavily on
his staiT-a very old man and he lifted that
staff, aud took hold of the small end Of the
staff and began 10 let it fall very slowly
through between the finger and the thumb,
and lac saii; "Oh, though impenitent, thou
art falling now-falling away from life, fall
ing away from peace and heaven, fall
ing as certainly as that cane is fall
ing through my hand-falling certainly,
though perhaps falling slowly And the cane
kept falling through John Livingstone
hand. The religious emotion in the audience
was overpowering, and men saw "A type OF
their doom as the cane kept falling and fall
ing until the knob of the cane struck Mr. Liv-
ingstoI's hand, and he claspcd it stoutly and
said, But the grace of God can stop you as
stopped that cane;" ami then there was glad
ness ali through the house at the fact of par
don and peace and salvation. well, said
the people. after the service, Il guess you had
better send Livingston home: he Is making
the revival worse" Oh, for the gales from
heaven and Christ on board the shipi The
danger of the church Of God is not in reyi-
walls.
| Again, my subject impresses me with the
| fact that Jesus was God and man in the same
being Hero be is in :he back part of the
boat. Oh, how tired he looks; what sad
| dreams he must have. Look at his counte-
nance; he must be thinking of the cross to
come. Look at him; he is a man-bone OF
our bone, flesh Of our flesh. Tired. he falls
asleep; he is a man. But then find Christ
at the PROV of the boat; hear him say,
peace, lie still - and / see the storm kneeling
at his feet ami the tempests folding their
| wings in his presence; he is a God.
| If | have sorrow and trouble and want
sympathy 90 and kneel down at the back
part Of the boat and say: 20 Christ, weary
one OF Gennesaret, sympathize with all my
sOrrOws, man Of Nazareth, man Of the cross.
man. "A man. But il / want to conquer my
| spiritual foes, If / want to get the victory
over sin, death and hell, come TO the front
of the boat and knecl down and say: 20
Lord jesus Christ, thou who dost hush the
tempest, hush all my grief; hush all my
temptation; hush all my sim" A man, q
man; a God, a God.
learn once more from this subject that
Christ can hush tempest.
1t did seem if everything must 60 "a
| ruin The diseirltes had OF nm "a idea al